Journalists in Mexico claim country’s president ‘plagiarised’ law degree dissertation

Avatar photo

By Katie King on

But a spokesperson for Enrique Peña Nieto suggests they were just “style errors”

Lead12

The President of Mexico has been accused of heavily plagiarising his law school dissertation.

Now one of the most important men in the world, Enrique Peña Nieto began his career at a law firm called Laffan, Muse and Kaye, having previously studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree in law at the Panamerican University.

Though 25 years have since passed, Peña Nieto’s actions at the Mexico City law school are now beginning to be called into question.

According to local news site Aristegui Noticias, President Peña Nieto’s thesis — the equivalent of a dissertation — contained 20 paragraphs copied word-for-word from a source neither cited nor mentioned in his bibliography.

It’s also claimed 29% of his essay, submitted in 1991, was lifted from other sources. A useful website shows exactly which parts of Peña Nieto’s dissertation are allegedly not his own work.

These are serious accusations — but where does the President stand?

Well, a spokesperson for Peña Nieto has described the discrepancies in his thesis — which was about the Mexican political system — as “style errors”.